Saturday, 16 April 2016

4 Expert Secrets to Eating Ghee

Move over lemon water, because there's a new morning weight loss superstar that's getting its moment in the spotlight.

"Ghee is the first thing I put in my body every morning," the reality star shared with her fans. "I take one big teaspoon of ghee every morning and melt it on the stove in a pan and drink it out of a cute little ceramic white cup. After I take it, I don't eat anything for 20 minutes, and then I drink a glass of water before eating food."

But that's not all. The celeb also reveals that the ingredient plays an important part in her kitchen routine.

"In my kitchen, I only cook with ghee and coconut oil and try to incorporate it into my meals as much as possible," she added. "We make French toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, quesadillas, basically anything we can with ghee."

So should you? Here's what the experts have to say:

1. It's a better option for many people"Clarified butter (also known as ghee), most commonly used in Indian cuisine, is produced by melting butter and allowing the components to separate," says Yuri Elkhaim, author of the All-Day Fat-Burning Diet. "The water evaporates, some solids float to the surface and are ￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼￼skimmed off, and the remaining milk solids sink to the bottom and are left behind when the butter fat (then on top) is poured off. Because of this, ghee has negligible amounts of lactose and casein, making it a better butter option for most people."

2. It depends on the source "As with anything, the source is most important," Elkhaim adds. "Whether choosing regular or clarified butter, please do your best to find a grass-fed and organic source. After all, the butter is a reflection of what the cow ate. You certainly don't want to be ingesting years' worth of pesticide residues and hormone injections."

3. It's great for cooking"Clarified butter stays golden yellow and doesn't separate," says Kellyann Petrucci, author of The Bone Broth Diet. "It also stands up better to high heat than unclarified butter does. (You can see why chefs love it!)." As a bonus, it keeps for three to six months in the refrigerator, so you can stock up for up to half a year.

4. You'll get a micronutrient boost"Ghee has all the micronutrients and antioxidants of butter, but it goes through one more step of processing that makes is just a little more Bulletproof," says Dave Asprey, author of The Bulletproof Diet, and founder of Bulletproof coffee. "Cultured grass-fed butter is heated for a short period of time to remove the water, the milk protein called casein, and lactose. The final product is even more nutrient dense than butter without the casein and lactose that can be irritating to some people. For those who are especially sensitive to dairy or who have gut damage, ghee is a must."

Want to get started on the ghee lifestyle? Here's Asprey's quick recipe for how to make it, right at home:

The amount of ghee you get from a pound of butter actually depends on what quality butter you use, because cheap butter contains a lot of water and some chemicals. Good-quality butter is 84 percent fat, so you'll get about 1 1/2 cups of ghee from a pound of butter as long as you use the highest-quality grass-fed butter every time!

Ingredients:1 pound grass-fed butter

Directions:In a pot, melt the butter on low heat and let the milk solids bubble to the surface. Skim those bubbles until there is just a layer of protein at the bottom of the pan. Let it brown slightly but be careful not to let it burn! Strain the contents of the pan over a mesh strainer covered with cheesecloth into a clean jar.